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Turkey, Greece launch pipeline project
The Turkish and Greek prime ministers met Sunday on a bridge over the river that divides their countries to launch a joint construction project to connect rich natural gas fields in the Caspian Sea area and Central Asia to energy-hungry markets in Europe. The project is a sign relations between the two bitter historical rivals — both NATO members — is warming. The Greek-Turkish pipeline should also offer an alternative to the Middle East supplies at a time when oil and gas prices are soaring. The 186-mile pipeline from Bursa in Turkey to Komotini in Greece is expected to go into operation in 2006, and will later be extended to Italy as part of the Southern Europe Gas Ring Project.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis of Greece met at the middle of a bridge over the Meric River — called the Evros River in Greece — to formally launch construction of the pipeline. The river serves as a border between the two countries. A Greek boy and a Turkish boy exchanged flags. "This pipeline is connecting two countries and two people together," Caramanlis said. "But most important of all, it is the first and key link in the Southern Europe Gas Ring Project." The pipeline "is important not just the two countries but for also the countries beyond both ends of the pipeline," said Leo Drollas, chief economist at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London. Turkey has been trying to expand its role as an energy conduit, connecting Europe to the oil and gas riches of the Caspian Sea area in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan Central Asia. In May, the presidents of Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan opened a pipeline that will transport up to 1 million barrels a day of Caspian oil and gas through the southern Turkish port of Ceyhan. The Baku-Ceyhan pipeline and the pipeline inaugurated Sunday help broaden supplies and are significant because they bring Caspian oil and gas to the West without going through Russia, which has been an aim of the United States. "Turkey is a bridge between Europe and rich (oil and gas) resources in the Caspian region and the southern Mediterranean, when the diversification of oil and gas resources in the European energy market is in question," Erdogan said. Both leaders referred to improving relations between their countries. "This (project) will help strengthen our friendship and put an end to speculation" about Greek-Turkish ties, Erdogan said. Caramanlis said, "This is a very important development which shows both countries can cooperate like never before." NATO allies, Greece and Turkey have been at odds over the war-divided island of Cyprus, as well as over airspace and sea boundaries in the Aegean. Greek and Turkish diplomats have held regular meetings in an effort to resolve their disputes, and Greece, a member of the European Union since 1981, has become one of the most vocal supporters of Turkey's own contentious EU bid, believing that relations between the two neighbors can only improve as Turkey becomes more attuned to European norms.
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